Asia Travel Guides

Visas overview

There are three levels of bureaucracy you need to jump through to travel in Tibet: a visa to get into China, a Tibet Tourism Bureau (TTB) permit to get into Tibet and an Alien Travel Permit to travel to certain regions of Tibet. The current regulations (which could change tomorrow) state that all foreigners wanting to visit Tibet must be part of a group (though a 'group' can be only one person!). Then you can obtain the TTB permit required to buy an air ticket into Tibet. During the high season (July to September) you may also need a return ticket to either Kathmandu, Chéngdū or Golmud, and perhaps a couple of nights' accommodation.

The reality is that most travellers buy a package through a budget travel agency. The cheapest way into Tibet is an air package to Lhasa from Chéngdū, which includes the flight, the semi-mythical TTB permit (which you'll never see) and, usually, transfer to Chéngdū airport. On arrival in Lhasa these temporary 'groups' disband. It is now also possible to fly to Lhasa from Zhōngdiàn in Yúnnán by first arranging the ticket and permits through a travel agency in Kūnmíng.

From Kathmandu, you will have to sign up for a tour to Tibet to get the TTB permit that will allow you to cross the border at Zhāngmù. Moreover, it's currently impossible to enter Tibet from Nepal on an independent visa, even if you have one in your passport. Travellers will have their Chinese visa cancelled and be put on a group visa, which comes as a separate piece of paper rather than a stamp in your passport. It is possible to get your own personal group visa (!), which is well worth asking for as you are then free to travel independently after the tour ends for the duration of your group visa, without the hassle of having to split from a group visa. It is possible to extend a group visa, and some have tried changing a group visa to an individual visa. However, you cannot do this in Tibet. For this you need to go to Chéngdū or Xīníng (possibly Kūnmi'ng), and even that might not work. Ah, the Chinese Catch-22!

Once in Tibet, entry to anywhere outside of Lhasa prefecture and the cities of Shigatse and Tsetang (ie to places such as Everest Base Camp, Samye, Sakya and Mt Kailash) requires you to procure a travel permit. To get a permit you again have to be a member of a tour group arranged through an authorised travel agency. At the time of research Shigatse's Public Security Bureau (PSB) was sometimes issuing travel permits to individual travellers for independent travel along the Friendship Highway to Nepal, but generally only if travellers fibbed a bit.